Bail You Out
by WiztheWhiteWolf
Summary: ONE-SHOT Following Yang's disappearance from a prison cell, the remaining members of Team RWBY try to figure out how she escaped. Meanwhile, Yang herself has no idea where she is either… just that she needs to get out. Alternative series of events for the aftermath of V3 E6 Based on a comic of the same name by weissrabbit.
**This can be alternatively titled "That One Time I Wrote Rogue AU Without Even Realizing it Because I Didn't Even Know What Rogue AU Was". True story.**

 **Anyway, this fic is based off a comic of the same name drawn by weissrabbit on tumblr. In addition, this is an edited version of the fic found on my tumblr (WiztheWolf). So, with all that said, I'd recommend you track down the comic before you read this. I can wait.**

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 **You find it? Okay, good.**

 **3\. 2. 1. Let's jam -WTWW**

* * *

Cold.

That was the first thing Yang felt when she woke up. Just sheer, unforgiving cold. She tried to call out, but her voice wouldn't work, and her throat hurt. Her hands were cuffed. They hadn't been back in her cell. Something was wrong, that much was for sure, but Yang couldn't remember what had happened.

Yang struggled into an upright position, helped by a wall behind her back. Every muscle in her body was sore.

 _How long have I been out?_ She wondered. She tried looking around, but quickly realized she was blindfolded.

 _Neo._ She remembered. _She disguised herself as mom..and then..and then..?_ Yang vaguely remembered Neo grabbing hold of her throat, but it was all black after that.

* * *

Ruby paced back and forth, struggling to comprehend how her sister could disappear into thin air. Yang had never been the stealthy type - Ruby remembered always winning at hide and seek when the two were little. And yet somehow the blonde had managed to sneak her way off a heavily guarded airship that had been in flight. It made no sense!

Blake observed the redhead quietly, the look on the faunus's face making it abundantly clear that she shared the same sense of bewilderment. She'd abandoned her bow in favor of the clearer hearing that came without it, in the hope that if Yang were to try and come back she'd hear her first. Blake wasn't sure what she'd do then, but after two days it didn't seem to matter.

Weiss stormed into the room, her scroll in hand. She quickly shut the door to ensure no one spotted Blake's ears.

"Ruby, knock it off," Weiss snapped. "I need you to to help me figure out this security footage."

"You got the airship footage?" Ruby asked excitedly.

Weiss rolled her eyes. "No, I got security tapes from the docks the night Blake ruined Torchwick's Dust heist. Of course it's the airship footage!"

"Calm down Weiss." Blake said quietly. "We're all stressed, but there's no need to take it out on each other. Now let's see that video." Weiss nodded and hooked her scroll up to the hologram monitor that stood on Blake's bookshelf. With a few button presses, the footage started playing. The three girls watched intently as…Absolutely nothing happened. Yang's cell door didn't open, and nobody went anywhere near it until Ruby barged in the cell block towards the end. Weiss moved to close out the video.

"Wait!" Blake yelped in alarm. "Replay the last two minutes!"

"Why?" Weiss asked.

"There's something weird. Let me see it again." Blake insisted. Weiss was still confused, but obliged. After a few seconds, Blake said, "There, by Yang's cell door. Zoom in."

Weiss did as Blake asked, but still couldn't see what the faunus was referring to. Ruby, however did notice the eerie, dull red glow emanating from the bars of Yang's cell. Weiss noticed it mere moments later and was thoroughly spooked.

"That's…not Yang's fire." Weiss said.

* * *

"Come…on!" Yang growled, focusing all her aura into creating fire. "I just need one spark! Please!" She was well aware of the absurdity of begging her own soul, but she was desperate for warmth. The temperature of the room was eating away at her protective aura, and if she didn't do something soon she'd get frostbite.

Finally, her fire sparked in her hair and spread across her body. It wasn't much, barely more than a smoldering flame, but it provided her with the heat she needed. She realized that if whoever was keeping her captive came to check on her and saw her burning there would be severe consequences, so she clenched her fists and focused the flames between them. She knew her hair was still glowing, but there was nothing she could do about it without destroying her one source of warmth.

"I don't see why we don't just kill her."

Yang bolted straight up at the sound of the muffled voice, the first thing she'd heard besides her own chattering teeth in hours. It had to be one of her kidnappers.

"I don't either. But our orders are to keep her alive until Cinder comes back."

"Then why do we have her in a freezer?" There was a loud banging noise, as if someone were hitting a metal door.

"She's a fire wielder, genius. And we couldn't exactly dunk her in a pool of water."

"This is a waste of time."

"Just go check on her before I lock you in there too." Yang panicked and her flame went out. She cursed under her breath as the door opened.

* * *

"Ruby, I really don't think we can show this to anyone," Weiss said. "It'll raise more questions about Yang than it answers, and if the general finds out we got access to the tapes…"

"We're going to be in serious trouble," Blake finished.

"So, we do a solo investigation?" Ruby suggested. "Same as always?"

"That's our best option." Blake nodded.

"There's just one problem," Weiss quipped, "Atlesian forces are already investigating the ship. We can't get close without drawing attention."

"Don't worry about it. I have a connection that can get access." Ruby announced proudly.

"Who in Dust's name could you-" Weiss paused mid-sentence and rubbed her temples. "There's no way you're serious. Penny?"

"It's Penny," Ruby said. "I know it seems weird, but trust me on this one."

"We don't have any better options," Blake said, "At least, not any that don't carry a risk of getting ourselves arrested for trespassing."

"Alright, fine," Weiss said. "Just make sure she knows exactly what she's doing. If she messes up, we're all going to be in trouble."

Ruby's eyes lit up like a Christmas tree, but then dimmed just as quickly. "Uhhh, slight problem."

"You have no idea where to find her, do you?" Weiss guessed.

"Nope," Ruby admitted. "I'm gonna go look." Ruby bolted out the the room and down the hall, barely remembering to close the door behind her.

"This is a terrible plan," Weiss sighed. Blake shrugged and started to re-watch the footage.

* * *

"When did you get up?" The guard muttered. Yang did her best to stay motionless as he prodded a bruise on her ribs. "Man, Neo really went to town… Almost makes me feel sorry for you, kid. Almost." He slammed his steel-clad fist into the bruised area, and Yang's ribs cracked. She barely choked back a scream.

 _If my hands weren't cuffed_ , Yang thought, _I would kill him. I would do it._

"Knew you were awake. You really didn't think I would notice how much hotter it was over here? I don't know how you got a fire started with those cuffs on, but it's not happening again." The guard said. There was an unmistakable click as he removed the safety of his gun, and Yang reacted without thinking.

She lunged forward and headbutted the guard in his thankfully unarmored stomach, knocking him off balance. The adrenaline coursing through her veins numbed the pain in her ribs and pushed her forward for another attack. She heard his gun clatter to the floor, and she kicked it out of his reach. She realized within seconds that this wasn't a fight she could win, but it was too late to stop now.

She kicked blindly, and grinned with satisfaction as the attack connected and the guard's breath left him with a woosh. The feeling was short-lived, however, and the guard retaliated with a savage punch to Yang's jaw, and then a kick to her stomach that sent her reeling back. Yang felt the pressure in the air drop just as something heavy was slammed over her head.

She dropped to the ground, but before she blacked out, she could hear the guard panic as something attacked him.

* * *

"Is that all?" Penny asked, her green eyes glittering with curiosity.

"Yep!" Ruby nodded. "But don't tell anyone. I'm serious, Penny. And don't steal any physical evidence, just, let me know what you see okay?"

Penny saluted. "No problem Ruby! If there's any way to figure out what happened, you will know!"

"Thanks Penny." Ruby smiled. "I owe you one!"

"Penny!" Ciel called from nearby. "Your five minutes are up!"

"I'll figure out some way to sneak past her." Penny promised. "Goodbye!"

"Bye Penny!" Ruby said as the ginger walked off. She turned and walked straight into her uncle's chest.

"Oh, hey!" Ruby stammered, "W-What are you doing here?"

"I would ask you the same thing if I hadn't overheard your entire conversation." Qrow growled. "What are you thinking kid? Are you trying to get yourself arrested?"

"Well no, I'm trying to find my sister…" Ruby replied sheepishly.

"What's this lead your team found, and why didn't you bring it to Ozpin?" Qrow pressed, his eyes making it clear he wasn't backing down.

"Ummm well, you see we weren't actually supposed to have access to it. Weiss pulled some strings, and then Blake spotted a this weird glowy thing and…" Ruby face was red hot, and she realized there was no way out of the hole she was digging.

"Wait, what kind of glowy thing?" Qrow asked.

"Uh, it wasn't really a glowing _thing_ , but there was a weird glow coming from Yang's cell just before I came in." Ruby said quickly.

"Was it red?" Qrow demanded.

"Uh, actually yeah how'd you know?" Ruby said.

Qrow actually looked nervous, "Ruby, you need to show this to Ozpin. It could be serious."

* * *

Yang woke up with a massive headache, which wasn't surprising. What was surprising was realizing it was no longer freezing cold, and then finding her hands free when she instinctively raised them to cradle her skull. She opened her eyes, and was pleased to discover that she was no longer blindfolded.

She lay on her back on a bedroll inside small, windowless shack of some kind. There was a fire pit in the center of the room, and the same hole in the roof that let out smoke provided a dazzling view of the stars. She took a closer look at her arms, and found they were mottled with bruises. Neo really _had_ done a number on her.

Yang felt at ease in the seemingly empty room, and tried to sit up to get a better look around.

"Don't," a woman cautioned. The shock of hearing another voice made Yang shoot upright, and her chest exploded with pain. She whimpered, but didn't lay back until the woman placed a gentle hand on her shoulder and carefully pushed her back down.

"You're injured, Yang. Just rest for now."

"M-mom?" Yang winced, unwilling to believe it was really her mother after what had happened. The woman kneeling over her wore a white and red Grimm mask, and had a mane of long black hair that spilled over her shoulders.

"I doubt you'd believe me if I said yes." The woman said.

"Then prove it." Yang said, her voice still hoarse. "If you're my mom, there has to be something you know that nobody else would."

The woman seemed to ponder this for a moment, then turned to the fire pit. She started a small fire, then finally responded. "When you were eight months old, your father took his eyes off you for just a few minutes to talk to me. The next thing we knew you were 'd crawled over to the fireplace and burned yourself on the protective grate. It took half an hour to calm you down."

Yang's face grew hot as she listened to the woman. She remembered dad constantly telling her that story when she was younger, and it had always humiliated her, even more so after obtaining her semblence. She'd never told it to anyone, and as far as she knew her dad hadn't shared it outside of the family. But she wasn't going to be convinced that easily.

"Anything else?" Yang asked.

"You always let your little sister win at hide and seek." The woman answered. "And you ended up having to go behind your father's back to build your weapon because he thought it was too dangerous."

"Have you been stalking me?"

The woman chuckled. "We've got a lot to talk about. But first, you should rest. As soon as you're well, we have work to do."

"Doing what?" Yang said wearily, the warmth of the fire slowly helping her drift off to sleep.

"Clearing your name." The woman answered.

* * *

"We shouldn't be encouraging this behavior," Glynda sighed after the elevator closed on Ruby.

"Relax," Qrow chuckled. "They aren't hurting anyone. Besides, if it weren't for them who knows how long it would've taken us to find this." He rapped his knuckle on the disk containing the footage.

"Be that as it may, it puts them in danger." Glynda argued. "Not to mention into Ironwood's cross-hairs."

"Team RWBY have proved themselves capable time and time again, Glynda." Ozpin cut in coolly. "If they wish to help in the investigation, I don't see why not. If anyone can track down Miss Xiao Long, it would be them, after all."

Glynda quickly realized that she wasn't going to convince Ozpin to change his mind. She shook her head, checked her scroll for any updates in the investigation, then took the footage disc from Qrow. "I'll go deliver this to the General then. Let's just hope those three know what they're doing."

"And let's hope it's really Raven…" Qrow muttered quietly.


End file.
